Xiao Jinglin sent Ren Yaoqi back to Baoping Hutong and left with Hongying after staying for lunch.
Shortly after Xiao Jinglin left, Apple led Sydney back.
After Sydney left Ren's house, although her dress was much simpler, her complexion was even better than when she was in Ren's house. Seeing Ren Yaoqi, Sydney hurriedly came forward to salute.
Ren Yaoqi saw that her cheeks were rosy and her breath was still a little short. Obviously, she came to see her after rushing back from the Lei family's Zhuangzi.
Ren Yaoqi was not in a hurry to ask questions, so she just asked her to sit down and drink some tea and refreshments, and then let her invite Ren Yaohua over. When Xiao Jinglin was there just now, Ren Yaohua was not in a hurry to ask her about seeing Lei Pan'er. Ren Yaoqi also wanted to wait for Sydney to inquire about the news and then tell Ren Yaohua about Xiao Qiao's affairs.
When Ren Yaohua came over, Sydney had already drank a cup of tea and used a few pieces of cakes, filling her stomach so-so.
Ren Yaoqi told Ren Yaohua the whole story of seeing Lei Pan'er and Xiao Qiao's family today, and also explained his guess about Xiao Qiao's purpose.
Xue Li said on the side: "The fifth miss should be right, when the slave saw Miss Lei's wet nurse, she heard that the little Qiao family started to pay attention to Miss Lei's family as soon as she entered Lei's house. She personally took care of her food, clothing, housing, and transportation. Originally, Miss Lei was taking care of the big and small things, but after Xiao Qiao came, the nurse couldn't get in. Xiao Qiao wanted to let Miss Lei move to the house. She went to live in the yard, and the nurse said in front of the head of the Lei family that Miss Lei recognized the bed, so Miss Lei finally stayed with the second master Lei. Maybe it was because of this that Xiao Qiao held a grudge against the nurse, and later The wet nurse was slandered by Xiao Qiao and embezzled Miss Lei's private money, and then kicked out of Lei's residence."
Ren Yaohua frowned and listened, and finally thought about it and said, "Does this little Qiao family really look similar to Pan'er's biological mother?"
Sydney nodded: "Nurse said that the two of them look alike in appearance, but the first Mrs. Qiao has a gentle temperament and a good temper, not like the little Qiao family."
However, Ren Yaoqi asked, "When Xiao Qiao was in her husband's house, she had no children?"
"It seems that she was pregnant once, but unfortunately, her husband passed away at that time, and she gave birth to a miscarriage because of grief and fear. I heard that the child was already formed when she gave birth, and it was a baby girl."
Ren Yaoqi nodded, no wonder the little Qiao family was so obsessed with the child even though she had never been a mother. It turned out that she had gained and then lost it.
"What's the Lei family's attitude towards Xiao Qiao?" asked again.
"Because Xiao Qiao looks like Miss Lei's biological mother, Miss Lei does not reject her closeness, and she is willing to listen to her words, otherwise she would not have let her drive the nurse out of the house before. The head of the family couldn't see anything, but he just told the Lei family not to neglect her, and did not stop Miss Lei from getting close to her. The owner of the house did not let go."
After hearing this, Ren Yaoqi couldn't help but ponder, and then looked at Ren Yaohua, who frowned and said nothing.
Ren Yaohua noticed that she turned her head, raised her eyebrows, and asked with her eyes.
Ren Yaoqi smiled: "This is the matter of the Lei family's inner courtyard. I don't want to interfere. Even you are not suitable to intervene now."
Ren Yaohua understood, nodded and said, "I know that." After a pause, she said to Ren Yaoqi again, "Don't worry, wait for me... I will handle it at that time."
Ren Yaoqi smiled, although she was worried, she also knew that she still needed to let Ren Yaohua do it herself, otherwise Ren Yaohua would probably blame her for being nosy.
Before Sydney left, Ren Yaoqi comforted her and said, "I want to delay your marriage with Zhu Ruomei for another year, but don't worry, I will let you get married at that time."
Sydney's face was blushing when she heard the words, but she still tried her best to look generous and decent: "Thank you, maid, Miss." She hesitated for a while, and then said, "Miss, can this maid still do things for you after getting married?"
When Ren Yaoqi heard the words, he couldn't help but smile, and his tone also brought some teasing: "Zhu Ruomei is a character now, big and small, and many people have to call him Lord Zhu when you go outside. What am I doing?"
Sydney only thought that Ren Yaoqi was joking with her, and quickly said: "The slave just wants to serve you."
Sydney's words are also sincere. Although the relationship between Fifth Miss Ren and her master-servant relationship did not have a good start, after staying with Ren Yaoqi for a long time, she will understand that Fifth Miss Ren is a very good master.
Even after she left the Ren family, Ren Yaoqi took care of her very much. The monthly orders and rewards on weekdays were not less than those who served her closely, and because Fifth Miss Ren paid such attention to her servant girl from beginning to end, I wish the whole family to go up and down. Great respect for her too.
What's more, Zhu Ruomei doesn't have a proper official position now, and Sydney only regards him as an unknown little entourage in the second son of the Yanbei Wangfu. Sydney thought, even if it is inconvenient to serve the fifth young lady in the future because she has to serve her mother-in-law, she can still manage a dowry shop or Zhuangzi for her.
Ren Yaoqi patted her hand and said warmly: "Of course it's good for you to have this heart, so let's wait. If you think it's good to come back and help me do things, you can come back, and I won't treat you badly."
Sydney breathed a sigh of relief and quickly thanked him.
Ren Yaoqi said this just to comfort her, because she knew that Zhu Ruomei was not a generalist. Judging from the current situation of Yanbei Palace and Xian Palace, there will be a big move in the next year. Ruomei will definitely come in handy. It would be better to marry Sydney when Zhu Ruomei has a half-official position than Sydney now. It's just that these things are not suitable for clarifying with Sydney now, so Ren Yaoqi didn't explain too much.
The days that followed were very calm, so in a blink of an eye it was late August, and Ren Yaohua was about to leave the cabinet.
Just a few days before Ren Yaohua came out of the cabinet, there was news from the Ren family's old house that the fourth Miss Ren, Ren Yaoyin, had returned.
The eldest wife of the Ren family is not happy with her daughter's return at this time. The Ren family is in turmoil now, and she does not know when it will be able to tide over the difficulties. The eldest wife also passed a letter to the eldest daughter a while ago, and asked the eldest daughter to find a family in Jiangnan for Ren Yaoying. A good family, with the help of the Gu family, she will accompany her with a generous dowry, so that Ren Yaoyin can't find a good family.
But Ren Yaoyin wants to come back at this time, where does the Ren family still have the heart to plan for her marriage? Ren Yaoyin's age was already too late. It made Mrs. Ren's plan in vain, so even if she didn't see her daughter for a few years, she was really worried, but she still didn't give Ren Yaoyin a good look.
Ren Yaoqi didn't respond. The third room has now moved out of Baihe Town, and will only become more and more independent in the future, so there will be not much interaction with Ren Yaoyin.
And Ren Yaohua is about to get married soon. She doesn't like Ren Yaoyin. In the future, she can stay old and die, and there is nothing to care about.
The day before the wedding, Ren Jiafa was married.
The Ren family prepared a dowry for Ren Yaohua. According to the example of the daughter of the Ren family, they escorted a Zhuangzi, a three-entry house, two shops, a set of huanghuali furniture, clothes and jewelry, as well as various furnishings and daily necessities. The Ren family is not as good as before, and Ren Yaohua's dowry has also shrunk a lot, but in the eyes of outsiders, Ren Yaohua's marriage is still beautiful.
Generally speaking, when the daughter of a wealthy family gets married, in addition to the dowry given by the family, parents and other families will also subsidize it. As for the amount of subsidy, it all depends on the strength of each house. Therefore, sometimes even if it is the first daughter of the same family, the dowry is different.
Li's family didn't save much private money over the years, so he just gave Ren Yaohua a few sets of good jewelry that he had saved. Li Shi felt very apologetic because of this. Other mothers would subsidize their dowry to their daughters, but when Li Shi was married, it was the most difficult time to offer the integrity of the palace. Where could there be any dowry to accompany her? Ren Yaohua doesn't care about this. Ren Yaohua knows the financial situation of the third room best, so she only wants half of the sets of head and face jewelry that Mrs. Li wants to give her, and she wants to leave the other half to Ren Yao. Expect.
However, Ren Yaoqi approached Ren Shimin and had a talk. That night, when Ren Yaohua came to listen to his teachings, Mr. Ren generously gave her 3,000 taels of silver to press the bottom of the box, and also gave her a few famous paintings and copybooks. The valuable and elegant things used as a facade made Ren Yaohua a little flattered.
The Rong family also added a dowry to Ren Yaohua, two thousand taels of silver notes and a pair of dragon and phoenix jade. After the Xianwang Mansion got in touch with Hezhong, some things didn't need to be hidden, and there were still some foundations. I heard that the jade pendant was something that was bestowed by the emperor back then.
When the other relatives added makeup to Ren Yaohua, they said that Ren Shijia was the most generous. In addition to giving Ren Yaohua a set of red gold heads, a pair of jade bracelets, and eight pieces of brocade, they also gave Ren Yaohua a thousand extra. two silver coins.
Ren Shijia was not so generous when other nieces got married. The reason why he treated Ren Yaohua differently was mainly because of Ren Yaoqi, and now that the Lin family has been separated, Lin Kun has a lot of property. Jia has a lot of money on hand.
She even pulled Ren Yaoqi and said secretly: "Good boy, when you get married, my aunt will have something good for you." She was very confident.
On the day of the wedding, four of the eight dowry maids prepared by the old lady Ren for Ren Yaohua were originally to be sent to the Lei family together with her dowry, but the old lady Ren did not expect that the dowry would be sent to the Lei family first. Before the Lei family, the maids she had prepared meticulously were all replaced by Mammy Zhou quietly.